Baseball’s Offseason, Where The Stove Has Been Properly Preheated

On Thursday our Royals blog, Royals Review, predicted that the team would sign outfielder Scott Podsednik. On Friday, general manager Dayton Moore has proven them right by signing Podsednik to a one-year deal.

Though Podsednik’s on-base percentage could certainly be a little higher, his .304 batting average in 2009 was a major improvement over previous seasons, and he’s still a base-stealing threat.

The Mariners are set to extend the contract of arguably the best defensive center fielder in baseball for another four years.

Franklin Gutierrez, who posted the best UZR/150 (27.1) in baseball last season, is set to sign a new contract that will give him $20.5 million over the next four seasons.

With the Seattle Mariners needing a first baseman, it looks like they are set to acquire backup first baseman Casey Kotchman from the Red Sox in return for Bill Hall.

There’s no word if the Mariners will be eating any of Hall’s salary for 2010. Kotchman is expected to be the Mariners’ starter while Hall will be Boston’s utility player off the bench.

The Mets didn’t stop at signing Jason Bay, as it is being reported that the Mets have also signed catcher Bengie Molina to a two-year deal.

Amazin’ Avenue says they are still waiting for confirmation, but if the reported deal is true then it “will probably be a bad move.”

The San Francisco Giants have reached an agreement with free agent infielder/outfielder Mark DeRosa, pending a physical. The contract is worth $12 million over two years.

Grant from McCovey Chronicles is less than optimistic about the signing:

Re-signing Bay would most likely catapult the Red Sox over the luxury tax threshold, something general manager Theo Epstein has said in the past he tries not to do.

After a year with the Kansas City Royals, Covelli “Coco” Crisp is on the move again, signing with the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday:

Crisp was injured for the majority of the 2009 season. He batted just .228 in 49 games in his first and only season with the Royals after being traded by the Boston Red Sox. The Royals had an $8 million club option for Crisp for 2010, but decided against exercising it, making him a free agent.

Having unloaded their biggest headache from last season by trading Milton Bradley to Seattle for Carlos Silva, you may think that Jim Hendry and the Cubs would get some love from their fans. Well, at SB Nation’s Bleed Cubbie Blue, Al Yellon is looking at things positively:

Meanwhile, at Hire Jim Essian the mood is much more pointedly angry:

The Boston Red Sox have been busy this offseason. They have added free-agent pitcher John Lackey, signing the former Angel ace to a five year deal, free-agent outfielder Mike Cameron, who signed a two year deal and was introduced Wednesday. This does not mean that Theo Epstein and company are finished yet.

However, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is reporting that the price will be steep for Gonzalez and a trade is probably still a long shot:

While the baseball world was occupied following the whereabouts of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and John Lackey, the St. Louis Cardinals were busy trying strike a deal with free agent outfielder Matt Holliday.

According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cards stepped up their negotiating on Monday and “tweaked” their original offer to Holliday, hoping to retain him for a reported eight seasons.

The Angels have come to terms with free agent outfielder Hideki Matsui, pending a physical:

Matsui, the 2009 World Series Most Valuable Player, will most likely replace Vladimir Guerrero and his role with the Angels, playing both right field and designated hitter.

With the Red Sox reportedly signing John Lackey to a large contract on Monday, it would seem Boston no longer intends — or has the money — to re-sign Jason Bay to play left field in 2010.

Considering the Red Sox haven’t been aggressive toward re-signing their left fielder who replaced Manny Ramirez in 2008, it makes the Red Sox’s near re-signing at the All-Star break even more confounding:

The Red Sox and John Lackey have reportedly agreed on a five-year deal, “worth slightly more than ... $82.5 million.”

SB Nation’s Red Sox blog, Over the Monster, will have plenty more reaction to this deal.

Sources are telling Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman that the John Lackey deal with the Red Sox is for five years, and worth about $85 million.

If Boston does indeed land Lackey as everyone seems to think they will, then expect the Yankees to back off their pursuit of Roy Halladay (besides the fact that he’s rumored to be involved in a huge deal with the Phillies and Cliff Lee).

According to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, the Angels are in “serious discussions” to acquire free agent Hideki Matsui to be their new designated hitter. It would apparently be a one-year deal, worth “about $6.5 millions” (via Buster Olney).

From Sam Miller in the Orange County Register:

The White Sox have signed closer J.J. Putz to a one-year, $3 million deal, according to the Chicago Tribune. Putz, you may recall, was one of the league’s best closers in 2007 for the Seattle Mariners, and his 40 saves even earned him his own bobblehead likeness:

Putz struggled with Seattle in 2008, and pitched in just 29 games last season for the Mets before undergoing elbow surgery. With the White Sox, he’ll serve as an emergency closer in case Bobby Jenks goes down, or — as the Tribune points out — Chicago could opt to trade Jenks this offseason.

That other New York baseball team showed its first involvement in the MLB free agent shopping spree on Thursday when they repotedly made contract offers to both Bengie Molina and Jason Bay. The big name there is obviously the latter, a 31-year old left fielder who has hit at least 30 home runs in five of the past six seasons.

Amazin’ Avenue points out that while Bay has his faults, he’d certainly be an upgrade, at least for the short-term.

The Boston Red Sox acquired pitcher Boof Bonser in a trade with the Minnesota Twins on Thursday for the ever popular player to be named later. From the Sox:

Houston has reportedly added free agent third baseman Pedro Feliz to the team, signing the now-ex-Phillie to a one year deal worth about $4 million.

While the gentlemen at SB Nation’s Astros blog, Crawfish Boxes, have a long-standing hate affair with Ed Wade, this is apparently one deal they are in favor of: